(1850–1933) created two significant characters in the history of the detective story. The first was Paul Beck (named Alfred Juggins when he first appeared in Pearson’s Magazine in 1897) in Paul Beck, the Rule of Thumb Detective (1898). He claims to be not very bright, saying, “I just go by the rule of thumb, and muddle and puzzle out my cases as best I can.” He also appears in The Quests of Paul Beck (1908), The Capture of Paul Beck (1909), Young Beck, a Chip off the Old Block (1911, in a minor role), Pigeon Blood Rubies (1915), and Paul Beck, Detective (1929).
Dora Myrl, Lady Detective (1900) introduces a modern woman who works as a private inquiry agent, a highly unsavory job for a female in the Victorian age. Her arsenal as a crime fighter includes exceptional skill at disguise, the ability to ride a bicycle at high speeds, and a small revolver she carries in her purse. She is young, pretty, smart (she graduates from Cambridge University, is expert at math, and has a medical degree), and witty, and she meets Paul Beck halfway through The Capture of Paul Beck. He is twice her age and taken by her beauty, while she admires him as “the greatest detective in the world.” They are on opposite sides of the case, but both see that justice is done. They fall in love (Dora having “captured” him) and have a son, who stars in the stories collected as Young Beck; Dora makes a cameo appearance, but her career has ended.
Bodkin, whose primary career was as a barrister, was appointed a judge in County Clare, Ireland, served as a Nationalist member of Parliament, and wrote of his courtroom episodes in Recollections of an Irish Judge (1914).
“The Hidden Violin” was first collected in Dora Myrl, Lady Detective (London, Chatto & Windus, 1900).